Remember The Good Times
Via sH2 and lifted from the comments, Debra Heine has news of a fearless and sure-fire political strategy:
Over 4,000 Facebook users in the Boston area have RSVP’d to attend the event they’re calling “Scream helplessly at the sky on the anniversary of the election.” Another 33,000 have expressed interest in attending the event… The organisers say in a Facebook post: “Come express your anger at the current state of democracy, and scream helplessly at the sky!”
“This administration has attacked everything about what it means to be American,” Johanna Schulman, an activist and one of the organisers of the event, told Newsweek. “Who wouldn’t feel helpless every day? Coming together reminds us that we are not alone, that we are part of an enormous community of activists who are motivated and angry, whose actions can make a difference.” […]
In Philadelphia, 538 people also plan to “scream helplessly at the sky” to mark Trump’s one-year anniversary as seen in a similar Facebook post. More than 3,000 people are “interested” in attending the event… The event is hosted by Philadelphia United for Progress, which describes itself as a “grassroots, feminist, intersectional group of passionate Philadelphia progressives.” People who are unable to attend are encouraged to “scream in solidarity” in their own backyards.
Presumably, this is the latest and most deadly phase of the “true insurgence” we were previously warned about. Admittedly, that curling-into-a-ball-and-weeping business didn’t alter the course of history, and the whole get-a-really-bad-tattoo-that-you’re-going-to-regret-two-weeks-later thing didn’t pan out either; but this time, this time, the very heavens will tremble.
As several commentators have noted elsewhere, it’s telling that the ‘activists’ have chosen to direct their energies, not towards something practical – which would entail patience and dedication, and probably quite a bit of unglamorous, unrecognised work – but instead to a display that draws attention to themselves. Albeit largely in the form of bewilderment and disdain.
Apparently, it’s vital that we know how “passionate” and “intersectional” they are.
Today’s word is ‘optics’.
Today’s word is ‘optics’.
Heh. Quite. Perhaps it will eventually occur to the participants and organisers that the impression given by their display of passionate intersectionality – of juvenile unrealism and self-preoccupation – isn’t exactly helping their case or likely to sway the broader public.
I said perhaps
And all helping Trump!
I have no skin (directly) in the game, living in Spain, but if I were a citizen of the good ole US of A, seeing this sort of sh*te would settle my vote for the next generation.
With candidates like Hillary supported by ‘people’ like that…
What am I suppose to do?
They will never learn. Double down is the only strategy they have (fortunately).
activists who are motivated and angry, whose actions can make a difference.”
I know, let’s act like our party should never be in charge of anything.
Possibly relevant.
With candidates like Hillary supported by ‘people’ like that…
How Hillary Clinton Still Can, and Should, Become President After the Trump-Russia Investigation
See, also,
How to Know President Trump is in Your Head
And prolly still extremely related, nearly a year later . . . .
Revenge of the Forgotten Class
Monolithic politics?? Oh, Hell no . . . and rather not going to go there either . . .
Completely OT, but through the looking glass. Apparently allowing someone with different views to speak breaches impartiality guidelines.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/24/bbc-apologises-over-interview-climate-sceptic-lord-nigel-lawson
Trump is definitely finished now! The tumbrels will roll through Washington!
I have a suspicion that 4chan is behind this.
I have a suspicion that 4chan is behind this.
The event is tagged as “kid friendly.” Though I’m not sure what small children will make of their parents indulging in cacophonous screeching, along with thousands of other supposedly grown adults.
Poking through the Philadelphia United For Progress website, I’m wondering whether the shriek-a-thon will come under “education and outreach” or “creative projects.”
Ahh you fixed my link, thanks.
I’m wondering whether the shriek-a-thon will come under “education and outreach” or “creative projects.”
Posted by: David | October 25, 2017 at 09:53
Care in the community?
Ahh you fixed my link, thanks.
Those were quite possibly the most up-buggered tags I’ve seen. They were even worse than Mr Sherman’s spectacular HTML defilement of August last year. You can, of course, just paste the URL into your comment.
I did! I believe it was because it came from my Google Feed… I considered trying to edit it properly but my HTML memory is a little rusty
Possibly relevant.
⊙_ʘ
⊙_ʘ
It’s a thing, apparently.
😀
Possibly relevant
The Boston sulks will never sound that good.
They were even worse than Mr Sherman’s spectacular HTML defilement of August last year.
Lovely. A memory like the Gambinos, you have. I’m starting to feel like Joe Pesci in Goodfellas. I think I’ll avoid going with the henchlesbians when they show up to take me to a “ceremony.”
As for the underlying event, it’s been done before.
A memory like the Gambinos, you have.
It all gets filed away for future shaming opportunities.
It’s a thing, apparently.
Thank God for waterproof mascara. 🙂
Thank God for waterproof mascara. 🙂
It does rather lift the spirits.
The event needs to be “kid friendly”, after all, the attendees will hardly be acting like adults, now will they?
I don’t think that is enough to help them achieve their goals.
This might.
And stomp their feet. If they really care, they’ll stomp their feet at the same time, both feet together.
My God, satire is dead.
My God, satire is dead.
No, and related to the screechers, it has been taken over by the government of our friends in The Great White North who give us this infographic on how to woo and win millennials.
Yes, they want to be heard, to listen, not so much, and the last one is pure fantasy.
My God, satire is dead
In related news:
With candidates like Hillary supported by ‘people’ like that…
Mrs. Oik & I were on holiday in the States recently and took the opportunity to meet one of my American friends and his new lady over lunch. He is a full-on East Coast Democrat and detests anything that even smacks of Republicanism… he’s nevertheless a fundamentally decent man, a practising Catholic who has forged a decent life for himself and his family despite the most appalling setbacks along the way.
I think he just needed an opportunity to sound off, because we were treated to a half-hour anti-Trump diatribe, Trump having divided the country which had never been more racist and….
I think you get the picture. His new squeeze was taciturn and embarrassed and Mrs. Oik & I tried every conversational gambit we could think of to steer away from the subject but to no avail. Eventually I ventured to suggest that the election presented a substantial portion of the electorate with a dilemma, in that the choice boiled down to voting for a malevolent and corrupt machine politician or a narcissistic oaf, or abstaining. I said that it struck me that there were quite a few good reasons not to vote for Clinton, with her “deplorable” comment being equally divisive, de haut en bas and quite possibly the most tactically stupid thing ever uttered by a Presidential candidate.
My friend nodded sadly in agreement and we moved on to discuss other things.
However, after a few minutes, he fixed me across the table with a stare: “You know, she was the most technically qualified candidate ever…”.
I am afraid that the situation may be hopeless.
“This might.”
Jim Jones was a radical leftist, whose “church” despised the Bible and replaced it with Marxism. Jim Jones was a darling of California liberals until he started murdering people, at which time his leftism went down the memory hole so fast it made a sonic boom.
@Lancastrian
Your encounter with your friend is similar to many I’ve had with friends and acquaintances on the Left politically. I avoid confrontation and gently try to steer proceedings back to topics less controversial, but I continue to be stunned at how unhinged most of these people–whom I’ve known and respected for years and who seemed to be well-grounded emotionally–have become. Virtually nothing is beyond belief for them if it is some sort of indictment against Trump and/or Trump voters, no matter how bizarre and demonstrably false such a belief may be. Facts be damned, they know that Trump is/will [Fill in blank with whatever horrific thing you want] and all evidence to the contrary is construed as an elaborate conspiracy to institute the next fascist state. It verges on psychosis.
This would have been nearly as fine an opportunity for mischief as when Laurie Penny was in residence at Harvard and looking for dates.
Alas, the event seems to have been canceled.
@Lancastrian,
I’ve found the trick is not really care too much, especially if you like the people aside from their dingbat political opinions, and just gently take the piss. I spent a couple of hours at a party last weekend chatting with a fully paid-up environmentalist, and I enjoyed myself anyway, e.g.
“Fish eat the plastic, eh? Which fish? Any particular type, or all of ’em? If we put a plastic castle in a fish tank, does it get eaten?”
Off topic comedy relief – a conundrum at a women’s prison is solved…
…or maybe not…
Oh,well.
Another imponderable mystery.
Yes, the COs must twist themselves into maple flavored pretzels for this double murderer. It is almost as if the leftists don’t want to be taken seriously.
@Lancastrian,
Would be interesting what he thinks of a presidential candidate with the following resume:
State Representative
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee
Minister to Russia (!)
Senator
Secretary of State
Minister to the U.K.
Seems like much more “technically qualified” than Hillary, no?
Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for James Buchanan, one of the worst presidents of the United States, supporter of the Dred Scott decision, and total failure at doing anything about the secession of several states!
And if qualifications are the most important thing for a presidential candidate to have, why bother with an election? Why not just appoint based on qualifications?
I’ve found the trick is not really care too much,
I suppose it can be hard to get past the distancing effect if the wacky woke politics is being mouthed by a friend.
I’m still trying to enjoy at least some pop culture without chafing at the politics of the people concerned. Moviebob, for instance, indulges in the kind of fatuous signalling we often mock here, but some of his film reviews are entertaining and not without insight. Though God knows, some of these people don’t make it easy.
Instalanche!
Quick. Sound “Stand To.”
Instalanche!
Someone hand me my imposing poobah hat.
And put a coaster under that.
Someone hand me my imposing poobah hat.
Screw that. We need to pile up the mealy bags and go all “Roarke’s Drift” on their asses. I’ve always imagined you as a “Stanley Baker” type.
Possibly relevant.
Also, there’s this.
(Slightly NSFW.)
Why not just appoint based on qualifications?
I was actually going to cover the subject of Hillary’s CV up to 1999 by suggesting my pal acquire Hitch’s book, but decided against it.
I suppose it can be hard to get past the distancing effect if the wacky woke politics is being mouthed by a friend.
In the same way that some very interesting people also have appalling halitosis, you’ve just got to make an effort to ignore it.
Here’s one now!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIaFtAKnqBU
Lanc,
If that means a political career based entirely on nepotism, personal and political hypocrisy that would be unacceptable in anyone else, and financial corruption that has long been suspected (and is now being revealed to be far beyond even conspiracy theorists’ fever dreams), then yes, Mrs Clinton is the “most technically qualified candidate ever“.
And put a coaster under that.
I thought “coaster” was an American term and that Brits said “mat”. Is my understanding out of date or just wrong?
Hereabouts, we say coaster. But then this is a classy establishment.
Is my understanding out of date or just wrong?
Our host probably picked up this aberrant usage during one of his frequent visits to the picture house, for isn’t he a terrible one for the fillums?
“Come express your anger at the current state of democracy, and scream helplessly at the sky!”
Do you want more Trump? Because this is how you get more Trump!
But then this is a classy establishment
And yet you let me in.
Microbillionaire,
I have a suspicion that 4chan is behind this.
It certainly has a “swallowed the bait” vibe about it.
Militant feminists have been their favorite target in the past (the “End Fathers Day”, “Pee For Equality”, and “Free Bleeding” being some of their most successful hoaxes), but getting thousands of loony leftists screaming pointlessly in unison would be quite an “epic victory”.
Jim Jones was a radical leftist, whose “church” despised the Bible and replaced it with Marxism. Jim Jones was a darling of California liberals until he started murdering people, at which time his leftism went down the memory hole so fast it made a sonic boom.
I know. I was hoping that liberals might take their protest to the ultimate level and use mass suicide to protest Trump and his evil ways.
If “qualifications” would include the great skill in accepting lobbying from a foreign nation while Sec State and later funding yet another Russia-linked lobbyist to pay an Englishman to troll the internet and pay Russians for an oppo research piece on a political opponent, then attempt to have the FBI put its imprimateur on the document to justify use of the government in surveillance… well, that’s qualification of a sort, I guess.
Still chewing over the knottiness of the thing a bit.
I’ll be happy to have you tell me everything you know about being an American whenever you have five seconds to spare, you parlor pink.
God I hope not. I’m heavily invested in popcorn futures.
This supports the proposition that the United States of America might not have the best form of government in the world, but it certainly provides damned good entertainment.
538 people also plan to “scream helplessly at the sky” … More than 3,000 people are “interested” in attending the event
If my experience of organising events on Facebook is anything to go by, that’ll translate to about three people turning up.
@Patrick: of whom two will be there just to get a good laugh.
Just occurred to me, too, that I guess we’re far better off with those 538 people doing this, rather than them angling to get themselves appointed to that exact number of positions in the electoral college.
Speaking of self-indulgence:
Woman who married herself cheated on herself
Tanner ‘cheated’ on herself with Ruari Barrett, a polyamorist who turned temporarily to monogamy while dating Sophie, in a relationship that lasted five months.
Eventually, Barrett dedicated himself to the same cause – in this case, himself – and had a self-marriage ceremony.
!!!
Speaking of self-…
Really, I’m just jealous reality thought of this before I had an opportunity to make fun of the ‘marrying myself’ crowd.
Bob, our betta, has not yet eaten his plastic Easter Island head. This may be because he likes to sleep in it (hangs his tail out one of the eyes) or because he thinks a castle would taste better.
He also likes Betta Bites, brine shrimp, world peace, and sensible lady bettas who are fun-loving and not clingy.
Eventually, Barrett dedicated himself to the same cause – in this case, himself – and had a self-marriage ceremony
Did he shtoop himself?
If my experience of organising events on Facebook is anything to go by, that’ll translate to about three people turning up.
“Did he shtoop himself?”
Always has a headache. He’s thinking of getting a divorce.
“538 people”
Ah. That partly explains the website 538.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FiveThirtyEight